Sorry, but I usually would rather not be approached in that setting.
I would feel uncomfortable about it and sheepishly decline.
I don’t like being photographed, especially by strangers .
So no I wouldn’t.
Depends on where I’m minding my own business. Am I relaxed? Is it a casual setting? Am I trying to have a business lunch? Am I on the phone or just idly staring at the birds or something?
If you are distracting me from something I am trying to get accomplished, if I’m feeling generous, I’d give you a withering stare and a hearty fuck off.
If I had nothing else going on and your approach did not ping my Creep-o-Meter, I might. I still want to know what you want to do with the photograph and I don’t trust the word of a stranger who claims it’s for a photo project. For all I know, you’re some sick twisted pervert trying to collect photographs of women’s elbows for your spank bank.
Perhaps if you can come up with some way to prove that you’re really doing this for a project and you will protect my privacy, then probably yeah. I like the idea of bringing a pile of photo releases that A) give you permission to reproduce someone’s image and B) binds you to respecting their privacy. You BOTH have to sign it.
Now, if I’m sitting in a bar with my friends and I’ve had a couple drinks, I will not think it through and you will get your pic. So either target subjects who would have their guard down, or take steps to be prepared to show some sort of “I’m not a creepy pervert” credentials.
My best friend and I make a point of having our pics taken while flipping the bird in any situation where we find ourselves to be dressed up and around cameras. There’s some really good shots of us at prom, at his wedding, at a concert, etc.
So I’d be totally into it and ask where I could see more.
Those pics of me flipping the bird are already on the Internet. So, yeah.
If the photographer doesn’t have your name, it won’t come up on any searches for you, so potential employers won’t find it by checking Facebook. Course that doesn’t mean that no one’s ever going to see it, ever, so I don’t think I would do it unless maybe if my face was obscured by my hand or something.
No, I would politely decline. I am suspicious of strangers wanting to take my picture.
I’d politely decline. If you were persistent, I’d become less polite. If you pulled out your camera anyway, I just might pull a Sonny Corleone.
When you say:
do you mean you want to make sure you get your one picture a day, or that you insist that any person you approach complies with your request? If it’s the second, be prepared for a rough year.
And the thing is, I am not naive. I am not especially upset over the idea that someone might be masturbating to a picture of me on the Internet. I am completely 100% positive it’s happened before, and will happen to every girl who is even of mediocre looks. But I’d like to choose when I am a voluntary participant as much as possible.
Yes, you can just snap a picture in the street and the law says I have no recourse. But there is a huge difference in a picture of me just doing my thing and me flipping someone the bird.
And on top of everything else I hate being bugged by people when I am just doing my thing. I grow more introverted every year!
How exactly is a potential employer going to find this picture of you? Your name wouldn’t be attached to it. I suppose it’s possible that he might come across it by random chance, but the Internet is kinda big. And there are 6 billion of us out there.
Wow. Talk about paranoia.
I would do it for a random stranger. I wouldn’t do it if it could in any way be tracked back to me as a person.
I’d probably comply, then come back to the same spot the next day with a small bird figurine in the hopes that you’re up for a visual pun photo.
I took a photography class in college, and man, people who might otherwise be a little suspicious totally let their guard down when I’d say sweetly, “I’m a student, and this is for a class project - I’m taking beginner photography!” Somehow, nefarious schemes and/or money-grubbing seem less likely with that sort of intro.
(I have to say, Al Bundy’s post set off my paranoia-meter as well. Sheesh, dude. Can’t find you in a search if the photo isn’t attached to your name in any way…)
Foolscap - I love your pun!! 
This sounds like one of those tasks from a photo scavenger hunt game:
#17 A complete stranger flipping you the bird.
A guy I know from the rock gym did a similar project called “Angry People Pointing”. He asked random strangers to… well… point at the camera while looking angry.
I’d do it. No questions asked…or answered.
Because people are readily identified by picture all the time. And how do you know the person won’t put your name on it once he has the picture? It’s very simple. Don’t do stupid things on camera and they can’t come back to bite you. That’s just common sense.
I wouldn’t do it. I’d politely decline, if you persisted I wouldn’t be as polite.
The thing is, while Al may be leaning a little towards paranoia, it doesn’t take strangers to find you. People who know you and have a bit of a grudge against you is all it takes. I have been tracked down and identified even though I used a different handle on a different website…no pictures at all. What’s to say they can’t do it with a picture?
I’m not saying that you should live your life in fear that someone is going to find a picture of you and send it around and make everyone see it…but to say it can’t happen is just foolish. Of course it can happen. There are some people out there with amazing google-fu.
Bank robbers never think they will be identified from their pictures either, but they are. It’s just silly to “perform” for somebody because you believe you can get away with it and will never be identified. Again, if this is the normal low class nature of the person, they probably see no problem and will do just about anything.
If there’s money involved (commercially, not editorially/photojournalistically, and yes, precise definitions can get tricky), he’d need a signed model release from you before he could sell the photo, or you could sue his pants off.
That said, if you simply explained your project to me, I’d delightedly flip you off with both hands because I think you’re that cool. 
I’d also ask for your business card/contact info, just to cover my ass (and to follow your project too, because it’s cool). So if you don’t have cards, you might want to put some together, even if it’s just your blog address and email.